If you've ever bought a Windows PC or Android smartphone or tablet from one of the big name vendors then chances are that you are familiar - perhaps even intimately familiar if you've ever tried removing it - with crapware.

Keeping your Windows PC fully patched and updated is a vital defense against hackers and malware, but applying patching can be a pain. Here's a simple (and free) download that will help you streamline the process.

The first major tech retailer to see its Black Friday ad leaked will have doorbusters that include a $149.99 8-inch tablet, a $189.99 laptop, and a $199.99 desktop all powered by the latest version of Windows.

Newly released figures from two popular web analytics firms show a PC market that is essentially static. The most interesting detail: Apple's push to update its installed base to the latest OS X version has largely succeeded, while Microsoft is less successful with its efforts to get Windows 8 users to move to the free 8.1 update.

If you need a Windows 8.1 computer that's flexible enough to be a tablet, a laptop (if you add the optional keyboard) and even (if you add the optional docking station) a desktop PC, then the Surface Pro 3 manages the trade-offs as well as anything on the market.

The consensus says that Windows XP has boosted corporate PC sales and acted as a performance enhancing drug. There's an argument that enterprises may keep refreshing PCs because the installed base is ancient.

The PC industry worldwide sold 136 million desktop PCs last year, along with 160 million traditional notebooks driven by keyboards and touchpads. Those big numbers explain why Microsoft is feverishly improving the desktop experience for "the next iteration of Windows."